Nutcracker



Nov. 15, 1927.

l. H. GREENE NUTCRACKER Filed June 12, 1926 INVENTOR Jun ATroR Y 'Patented Nov. 15, 1927.

airs has for its primary ple, effective and easily operated v kinds of nuts and particucracking various larly hard macerating the nut l/lore particular y 1) [STA res PATENT OFFICE.

IRVING H. GREENE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

' NUTCBACKER,

Application filed June 12, 1926. Serial No. 115,439.

provide a 51mobject to device for shelled nuts without crushing or kernel. the novel feature of my present invention resides in the prov1- sion of atwo pivotally connected nut cracking device embodying jaw members having their opposed nut engaging edges curved on different the pivot whereby,

of the jaws upon the nut,

ment is imparted to gressively increasing eccentric radii with respect to in the closing movement a rolling moveduring the prothe nut force which is thereby applied to the nut shell so that said force is more or distributed upon the the cracking or bre number of different thereof so that less uniformly shell wall, resulting in aking ofjthe shell at a points circumferentially saidfshell may be easilysepa rated from the kernel, and then later removed in some cases whole and and in others in large sections.

A feature ofthe leaf spring by bers are yieldingly tion.

presentinvention is the means of which the jaw memield in expanded posris a further general object ofmy invention to'provide a nut cracker of the above character which however, ple in its construction and can be manufactured and sold at small cost.

with the above the invention consists cracker and in the relative arrangenien will be hereinafter lustratcd in the acco and other objects in view,

in the improved nut form, construction and t of its several parts as more fully described, il-

inpanying drawings and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims.

In the drawing, w

herein 1 have illustrated one simple and practical embodiment of the invention, and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is an edge view of a nut cracker embodying one form of my ments, and

pi esent improve- Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, the jaws being shown in full lines in open position and in dotted lines in their closed positions.

Referring in device as therein sh detail to the drawing, the

own embodies two lever 1 curved to form the jaw unbroken is relatively siinmembers 5 and 6 respectively, which may be of any suitable or preferred form. The lever member 5 at one of its ends is widened toform the jaw 7 while the corresponding end of the other levermeinber 6 is laterally 8. In the edge of the jaw? at the end thereof asuitably shaped recess 9 is formed to receive the apertured ear or lug 10 which projects at an angle from the extremity of. the curved jaw 8 of the'lever 6 and is loosely engaged for pivotal movementuponthe pin ll fixed in the jaw 7.

Preferably, I provide asuitable means for normally holding the two jaws yieldingly in open position with their toothed edges in spaced relation with each other, such for instance as the leaf spring 14 which may have a bifurcated portion to straddle the lug or ear 10, the end thereof being suitably fixed in the jaw 7 while the other end of said leaf spring bears against the inner edge of the jaw 8, and is freely slidable over the surface thereof. i In the operation of the nut cracking device above described, the nut is arranged between the toothed edges of the two jaws as shown in full lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings and the lever members 5 and 6 are forced towards each other to close said jaws upon the nut. In this closing movement of thejaws, the teeth 12 on the jaw 7 tend to urge the nut in one direction while the teeth 13 on the jaw 8 tend to urge thenut in an opposite direction. Thus, as. I these jaws exert a compressingaction upon the shell of the nut, they also impart to said 'nut a bodv ily rolling movement between the two jaws. It is therefore, evident that the compressing pressure is not applied entirely at one point on the nut, but this pressure is more or less uniformly distributed circumferentially or tangentially around 'the'wall of the nut shell and said shell will therefore, be cracked or broken at a number of spaced points; Therefore, the possibility of badly crushing or macerating the kernel of the nut is obviated. After the nut shell has thus been cracked, the nut is removed from between the jaws 7 and 8 and the parts of the shell may then be readily separated from the nut kernel. It will be found that the latter, in many cases,re1nains practically whole or unbroken. I have found the device to be par ticularly advantageous in the cracking of the form,

such nuts as hard shell pecans, which as is well known, are one of the several species of nuts which are most difficult to properly crack without badly crushing the kernel. It will be understood that the eccentric curvature of the opposed edges of the two nut cracking jaws is such that nuts of many different sizes may be accommodated therebetween and cracked with equal ease and facility.

Owing to the spring structure wherein the bifurcated ends are anchored in one of the jaws and its opposite end is freely'slidable over the co-operating jaw, it will be apparent that the spring will be rigidly sustained against accidental removal and cannot be readily displaced, since the legs formed by the bifurcation straddle the lug in such a manner that lateral displacement of the spring is virtually impossible. Furthermore, the solid bight portion of the spring bears against the adjacent jaw thereby producing a relatively stiff body at the free disconnected end of the spring which materially strengthens the same and avoids breakage or lateral displacement.

From the above description considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, it is believed that the construct-ion, manner of use and several advantages of my invention will be clearly understood. While I have referred to a particular manner of pivotally connecting the two jaws with each other, it will be understood that this is not essential and that various other means might be adopted for effecting this pivotal connection. Also, the several other detail parts of the device as herein described are susceptible of more or less modification in proportion and relative arrangement of the several parts, and I accordingly, reserve the privilege of making all such legitimate changes therein as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

a flattened end I claim:

1. A nut cracking device comprising two lever members, one of said members having providing a jaw thereon and the other member having a laterally curved end portion forming a con'iplementary jaw and terminating in an angularlyprojecting lug, a pivot pin connecting said lug with the first named jaw, the opposed edges of said jaws being curved on different radii in eccentric relation to said pivot and having teeth thereon adapted to impart a rolling movement to the nut during the progressive compressing action of the jaws thereon as the latter are closed, and a bifurcated leaf sprii'ig straddling the lug and having'its bifurcated end anchored to the first mentioned lever member.

2. A nut cracking device comprising two lever members, one of said members having a flattened end providing a jaw thereon and the other member having a laterally curved end portion and terminating in an angularly projecting lug, a pivot pin connecting said lug with the first named jaw, the opposed edges of said jaws being curved on different radii in eccentric relation to said pivot and having teeth thereon projecting in relatively opposite directions adapted to impart a rolling movement to the nut during the progressive compressing action of the jaws thereon as the latter are closed, and a bifurcated leaf spring member interposed between said jaws adjacent to the pivot, the bifurcated end of said spring being fixed in the first mentioned jaw, the opposite end of said spring bearing against the other jaw and freely slidable over the inner face thereof to yieldingly hold said jaws normally in spaced relation to each other.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

IRVING H. GREENE.

forming a complementary jaw 

